A recipe for healthy communities: just add dogs.

Following a hunch, mother-of-three and dog-owner Dr Lisa Wood from the University of Western Australia added a few extra pet-related questions on her PhD research questionnaire.

In her original research, Dr Wood, from Doubleview, looked at three differently planned Perth suburbs to see which design most affected the connections, trust, and shared behaviours that bind people in communities together. When she analysed the data of pet owners and non-pet owners, she found pet owners scored more highly for positive community behaviour.

“Pet research has mostly focused on the one-on-one benefits of owning a pet, rather than the benefits to the whole community,” Dr Wood said.

“Our work, published in the journal, Social Science and Medicine, showed that pets act as a lubricant for social contact and interaction. Pet owners are more likely to be involved in their local community and to exchange favours with neighbours. Research by Dr Hayley Christian in our Centre also shows that dogs motivate their owners to be more physically active and get out walking in their neighbourhood.

“Once we started looking, we were staggered to find how many examples there are of pets contributing to the social fabric of society and helping people from every walk of life. In Australia, 63 per cent of people own a pet and about 45 per cent have a dog.”

The findings have led to a handbook, Living Well Together, launched in Canberra and sent to every CEO, Mayor and community development officer in every council.